Monday 31 May 2010

They always said, never open Pandora's box


I am one those, yes, one of those, those people who try to turn a blind eye to the news toll concerning the deaths that surround us in the middle eastern region. It has become part of the norm, death that is, if you live in the Middle East. Everything Islamic has somehow been connected to fundamentalism and I remember vividly how my life was consumed with the news but when I began to reach a point that I was truly depressed I just decided it was time to suppress all this and leave the news be.

Today watching the whole flotilla aid situation and seeing it all unravel in front of me, I could not have imagined how low Israel has reached! the fact that their reply to killing innocent lives is by saying they are “sorry” for the losses of unarmed civilians and they weren’t “sure” who told them they can shoot just not justify anything at all. There comes the other voice in me that notifies me that with politics nothing is in our hand!

I keep coverage of the news back home and read about how one of Gulf news journalist Abbas Al Lawati was on one of the boats. Despite the fact that this type of mission always carries a certain risk it just was something you do not expect from a ship carrying aid! On another note I really am happy that there are journalists in Dubai with such a passion for bringing in more coverage to our part of the region. As an avid photography journalist I just wish I had the guts to go to Palestine.

What’s interesting in this whole situation is I believe Israel has perhaps landed in Pandora’s box this time. Despite the media conglomerates dictate our opinion, today’s economy will manage to access the truth much faster with no helps from the conglomerates. The Internet has opened up blogs, twitter, youtube and much more outlets that people will use to present the actual facts without the help of the likes of CNN
This news alone comforts me, hopefully now people will understand that perhaps all this anxiety and hatred Arabs feel towards the Israel army and government is for a good and valid reason.

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Photos: amore questo e Verona

I Had the great opportunity this past March to travel to Italy with my mother who was on business, We visited the little town of Verona, home to Romeo and Juliet! I usually upload more photos but decided to stick with my favorite 6 this time.














Sunday 23 May 2010

Contemplating PHD

My mind is set on my dissertation, with my relief that I have chosen a topic ambiguous yet confident enough that I can tackle the question of weather I have a future in pursuing a PHD still lingers, the idea of staying longer in the UK is quite tempting yet if the prospects of establishing my career route is open then I say why not go work!

I am not quite sure how easily will it be for me to find a job within the book publishing industry in the UAE, despite its promising future I believe a little empirical knowledge and not just my academic background would help make me a more confident employee.

Yet I am quite excited about my dissertation topic! My topic looks into the prospect of adopting digital publishing in the Middle east as a norm for publishing as oppose to the basic brick and mortar stores. I believe the lack of distribution system should be used to our advantage in digital publishing and promote it as a norm within the middle eastern region, this way not only will authors in the middle east be popular in the middle east but have the ability to gain global recognition!

Now the challenge is how I will manage to increase all this into 15,000 words, yep and the thought that a PHD will be 80,000 words makes me want to choke (although I have three years to write it ! as oppose to 3 months not to mention summer months!!)

Well if I am serious about writing a PHD then I must start working on my proposals before I begin the actual construction of my Dissertation!